State Champ Radio

by DJ Frosty

Current track

Title

Artist

Current show
blank

State Champ Radio Mix

12:00 am 12:00 pm

Current show
blank

State Champ Radio Mix

12:00 am 12:00 pm


Uncategorized

Page: 2

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: John Nacion / Getty

Saturday Night Live has left some folks scratching their heads and it wasn’t due to a skit. Keenan Thompson also feels Morgan Wallen’s exit was abrupt.

In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Keenan Thompson was asked about the country singer’s recent appearance on the sketch comedy show. As the episode was wrapping up with the cast and crew saying goodbye from the main stage, Morgan Wallen only said goodbye to host Mikey Madison. He then walked off the stage and proceeded to leave for his flight. Later on that evening, Wallen shared a message on his Instagram Story that read, “Get me to God’s country.”

At first, Thompson thought the musician just needed to relieve himself. “You see somebody before you get a chance to say hi or say good job or anything like that, they just dipping,” he recalls. “I thought maybe he had to go to the potty or something,” he said. “We’re so used to everybody just turning around and high-fiving us, everybody’s saying, ‘Good job, good job, good job.’ So when there’s a departure from that, it’s like, hmm, I wonder what that’s about?”

This is not the first time the cast has been left hanging during the closing of the show. The Fat Albert star went on to point that Prince once did the same thing when he was the show’s musical guest. “Prince did the same thing,” he explained. “I’m not saying Morgan Wallen is Prince, but we weren’t surprised because Prince was notoriously kind of standoffish. It’s just how he was. So we just thought like, ‘Okay, now he’s gone back into fantasyland.’” Nevertheless Thompson felt Wallen’s exit was peculiar. “But Saturday I guess it was just different because it just felt so abrupt.”

While Morgan Wallen has yet to clarify why he left without saying goodbye, many are speculating that the “Last Night” performer did that on purpose because either the series or New York City is a bit too “woke” for his liking. In the past, Wallen has made some questionable comments that were widely considered MAGA friendly. Back in 2021, a video of him surfaced online using a racial slur; he later formally apologized during an interview with Billboard. You can see him walking off from Saturday Night Live below.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Bill Clark / Getty

On Monday evening (March 31), New Jersey Senator Cory Booker took the podium on the Senate floor to begin a marathon speech decrying the “grave and urgent” threat to American democracy within the policies of President Donald Trump and his administration. Booker, a Democrat, vowed to speak “for as long as I am physically able.” Booker made sure to be direct with his opening remarks. “In just 71 days, the president has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy, and any sense of common decency,” Booker began. “These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.”

“I’ve been hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment,” Booker stated in a video posted to his social media accounts before he took the podium. “And so we all have a responsibility, I believe, to do something different, to cause — as [late Rep.] John Lewis said — ‘good trouble,’ and that includes me.” 

Booker’s speech isn’t a filibuster in a technical sense, as his aim isn’t to block a specific bill, which is where a filibuster would normally be used. But as long as Booker is standing and recognized, he can speak as long as he can stand and do so. The speech would halt all official business if it lasted past noon. The record for the longest filibuster is held by the late South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who stood and spoke for a little over 24 hours to oppose the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It would ultimately pass and be signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower.

Booker has read speeches by the late Senator John McCain and Rep. John Lewis, and also employed a strategy of taking questions from Democratic colleagues in the Senate, which gives him a respite from talking at length. These included questions and speeches from Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Chris Coons of New Hampshire. Check out the speech above.

— Photo: Getty

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Prince Williams / Getty
We are sad to report that ATL rapper Young Scooter reportedly died today (Mar. 28) as he celebrated his 39th birthday.
WSB-TV reports that Atlanta PD responded to the shooting near the intersection of Luckie Street NW and Mills Street NW, blocks away from State Farm Arena, where the NCAA College Basketball tournament is taking place.

The shooting occurred around 6:45 pm. Scooter was rushed to the hospital, where police confirmed that he died from his injuries.
Fellow ATL rappers Playboi Carti and Ralo paid tribute to Scooter on social media.

Raised in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood, Scooter (real name Kenneth Bailey) was among the first artists to sign with Future’s Freebandz imprint in 2012. One year later, he jointly signed with Waka Flocka Flame’s Brick Squad Monopoly.

He first gained notable recognition with his Street Lottery mixtape (2012), led by the single “Colombia.” The track became a regional hit, with rappers Rick Ross, Birdman, and Gucci Mane hopping on the remix.
Scooter would later earn his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 with his guest feature on Future and Juice Wrld’s “Jet Lag.” The track peaked at #72 and was certified Gold by the RIAA.
Scooter would go on to release 20 mixtapes within the course of his career, making a lasting impact on Atlanta’s Hip-Hop scene. His contributions to the game will never be forgotten.
This is a developing story.
Check Out Our Throwback Interview With Young Scooter From 2013

REPORT: Young Scooter Shot & Killed In Downtown Atlanta 
was originally published on
hotspotatl.com

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: R1 Digital / R1

GloRilla & Friends, Offset, Bossman Dlow and More Announced as First Wave of Birthday Bash ATL Artists
[Atlanta, GA–March 28, 2025] Atlanta’s premier Hip Hop station, HOT107.9, announced the first wave of artists for the most highly anticipated music event of the summer, Birthday Bash ATL2025, June 21st at State Farm Arena.
Grammy-nominated musician and award-winning hip-hop artist GloRilla will headline Birthday Bash ATL 2025. GloRilla has been savoring the success of her summer takeover, considering her three hit songs – “TGIF,” “Yeah Glo!” and “Wanna Be” (featuring Megan Thee Stallion). Each song spent time on the Top-40 of the Billboard Hot 100. At one point, all three songs charted simultaneously in the Top 40, resulting in GloRilla becoming the first female hip-hop artist to achieve the feat in 2024.

Earlier this year, she released her latest mixtape, “Ehhthang Ehhthang”, which generated over 550 million streams in the U.S. to date. “Yeah Glo!” subsequently evolved into a massive hit, emerging as the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit of Glorilla’s career and serving as her third career No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, after “F.N.F.” and “Tomorrow 2.”
Birthday Bash ATL 2025 also welcomes Offset, Bossman Dlow, Kash Doll, Real Boston Richie, Big Boogie and AMG Twinz to the preeminent concert of the summer. As anticipation grows, additional Birthday Bash ATL artists will be announced in the coming weeks.
Birthday Bash ATL 2025 tickets are on sale now at www.Ticketmaster.com. For up-to-date information, visit www.BirthdayBashATL.com or www.HotSpotATL.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @Hot1079ATL, and of course, listen to WHTA HOT 107.9-FM.
Birthday Bash ATL 2025 EVENT DETAILS:
Saturday, June 21, 2025 at State Farm Arena
Gates Open: 6:00pm – Showtime: 7:00pm – 11:00pm
ABOUT URBAN ONE, INC.
UrbanOne, Inc. [NASDAQ: UONE and UONEK, www.urban1.com], together with its subsidiaries, is the largest diversified media company that primarily targets African-American and urban consumers in the United States.  Urban One is the parent company of Radio One, Reach Media, Inc. (blackamericaweb.com), TVOne (tvone.tv), CLEOTV (mycleo.tv), iOneDigital (ionedigital.com) and OneSolution. Formerly known as Radio One, Inc., the company was founded in 1980 with a single radio station and now owns and/or operates 60 broadcast stations (including HD and low-power television stations) in 14 urban markets in the United States, making it one of the nation’s largest radio broadcasting companies. The Company’s growth led to diversification into syndicated radio programming, cable television and online digital media. As a result, in 2017, Radio One, Inc. was renamed Urban One, Inc. to better reflect the Company’s multi-media operations. While the Company was renamed Urban One, Radio One remains the brand of the radio division and all of its radio assets.  Through Reach Media, Inc., the Company operates nationally syndicated radio programming, including the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, the Russ Parr Morning Show, and the DL Hughley Show.TV One is a national cable television network serving more than 59 million households, offering a broad range of original programming, classic series, and movies designed to entertain, inform, and inspire a diverse audience of adult Black viewers. Launched in January 2019, CLEO TV, is a lifestyle and entertainment cable television network targeting Millennial and Gen X women of color. iOne Digital is a collection of digital platforms providing the African American community with social, news and entertainment content across numerous branded websites, including Cassius, Bossip, HipHopWired, and MadameNoire branded websites. One Solution provides award-winning, fully integrated advertising solutions across the entire Urban One multi-media platform. Through its national, multi-media operations, the Company and One Solution provides advertisers with a unique and powerful delivery mechanism to African American and urban audiences. Finally, Urban One owns a minority interest in MGM National Harbor, a gaming resort located in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

ABOUT STATE FARM ARENA
Home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, the award-winning State Farm Arena is a next-generation sports and live entertainment venue focused on experience, sustainability, and service. Inspired by the city, State Farm Arena showcases the core values of the organization: inclusiveness, authenticity, and innovation. From the first ever in-arena barbershop with the Killer Mike SWAG Shop to the Hawk Bar on the court behind the basket to the concourse to the Topgolf Swing Suites, State Farm Arena is True to Atlanta. Community and sustainability are at the core as the arena hosts the largest annual food distribution event with the Million Meal Pack and the arena was also the first venue in the world to earn TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) Platinum certification for zero waste. State Farm Arena was recently named Best Venue by Front Office Sports, a leading multi-platform media and news organization, and consistently ranks among the top 10 concert and event venues in the world from industry-leading publications Pollstar and Billboard. Accessible to every fan with a MARTA station adjacent, the downtown Atlanta arena hosts approximately 175 events and close to 2 million guests annually and stakes its claim as the city’s best sports and live entertainment venue. For more information on State Farm Arena, visit StateFarmArena.com or follow on X @StateFarmArena and Instagram @StateFarmArena.
State Farm Arena
State Farm Arena PR | StateFarm.ArenaPR@hawks.com Max Strauss | max.strauss@hawks.com
Anthony White | Anthony.White@hawks.com
###

GloRilla & Friends Lead 1st Wave Of Birthday Bash 2025 Performers 
was originally published on
hotspotatl.com

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Alastair Staley / Getty

For a hot minute back in the early 2000’s, Akon was one of the hottest artists on the streets providing some stellar street cuts and memorable hooks and though he’s gone on to bigger and better things, the artist in him still has that itch to create music in 2025 and we’re not mad at him one bit.

Dropping off some new visuals to the Simien assisted “Never Really Mattered,” Akon gets in his loverboy feelings and pours his heart out of his diamond encrusted grill while the seductive singers of Simien sing the hook and lowkey steal some shine from his iced out teeth.

Speaking of early 2000’s music stars, dancehall legend Sean Paul keeps churning out new work and in his latest clip to “Summa Hot,” the Jamaican artist hits the ocean in a private boat with some stunners of his own and get thing poppin’ out at sea as the man knows how to keep the party going.

Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from J.I. featuring Roy Woods, Jacquees, and more.

AKON FT. SIMIEN – “NEVER REALLY MATTERED”

SEAN PAUL – “SUMMA HOT”

J.I. FT. ROY WOODS – “LOVE ME LOVE ME NOT”

JACQUEES – “WHEN I’M AROUND HER”

GYPTIAN – “SLOW WALK”

LEOSTAYTRILL – “YA GET DAT”

SEAN PAUL & SQUASH – “LIFE WE LIVING”

MUNGA HONORABLE – “AVOID PEOPLE”

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Al Pereira / Getty

Months after joining Donald Trump at one of his rallies in the Bronx (we just thought we’d point that out), rapper Sheff G has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy and will be held accountable for his actions (unlike Donald Trump).

According to the New York Daily News, the “No Remorse” rapper is set to serve five years in prison after pleading guilty to taking part in a shooting that left rival gang member Theodore “Sniper” Senior dead and five others injured in 2020. Sheff G was one of the 32 alleged members of the 8 Trey Crips and 9 Ways gangs that was named in a 140-count indictment that was handed down in 2023, which in turn probably led to him supporting Donald Trump as the Orange Overlord is known to pardon rappers for political gain. Unfortunately, for Sheff G, Trump isn’t running for reelection, so chances of him handing out pardons to gain favorability from the Hip-Hop community is slim to none as he couldn’t care less about what the Black and Brown community thinks about him these autocratic days.

The New York Daily News reports:

“Notoriety could not shield this defendant from justice. He used his fame to fund and direct violence, terrorizing our streets, and though we sought a much longer sentence, he will now be held to account,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Wednesday.

Sheff G pleaded guilty to the top counts in his indictment, and prosecutors asked for 20 years. But Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun offered him five years in prison and five years supervised release over objections from the DA’s office.

They wound up in investigators’ crosshairs after the Oct. 21, 2020, drive-by shooting at Hawthorne St. and Nostrand Ave. in Prospect Lefferts Gardens that killed Senior, an alleged Folk Nation gang member, and wounded five others.

The shooting was sparked by a social media beef between Sheff G and a Folk Nation-affiliated rapper, Gonzalez said in 2023.

After the gunfire Sheff G texted one of the gunmen to ask if the shooting was “successful.” Two days after the drive-by Sheff G and his team celebrated with a fancy steak dinner where he presented the gunman with a custom gold chain with a “sniper’s crosshairs with two X marks over it to signify Senior was killed.”

At least Sheff G spoils his shooters? Just sayin’.

Now that Sheff G has pleaded guilty to the charges, he’ll be doing five years in prison and be back out on the streets before 2030. Not a bad deal given the circumstances.

What do y’all think about Sheff G’s sentence? Let us know in the comments section below.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz

Celebrity kids also do the darndest things. Cardi B’s daughter Kulture ruined her $60K Hermès Purse by drawing on it.

As per The Grio, Cardi B has just taken a hit to her infamous accessory collection. This week she took to her Instagram Story to express her shock and awe upon finding out that Kulture drew a heart symbol in black in on her rare mustard yellow Hermés Kelly crocodile embossed bag. “Look what my daughter did to my purse. Look what my daughter did to my purse,” she said in disbelief. “Look what my daughter did to my f***king purse. Look,” as she zoomed on the whimsical doodle. While Hermés does offer repair services, for a fee, of course, a similar purse is currently up for sale on the resale site 1stDibs in case Cardi B wants to secure a replacement.

Since making it big, Cardi B has not been shy about how she spoils herself. For years she has worked on advancing her purse collection and has added several grails from the Hermès Birkin line including the 30cm Himalaya and Faubourg Birkin bag.

Back in October, she gave her fans a look inside her massive closet that could be compared to a luxury boutique. Her preference for exotic skins was made obvious with several pieces featuring crocodile and reptile embossing. During the time of the reveal, fashion experts estimated the value of her purse collection at around two million dollars.

You can see Kulture’s art on Cardi B’s Birkin bag below.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: VIEW press / Getty

A Columbia University student who filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration was granted a temporary restraining order against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials who were out to arrest and deport her. U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald issued the order Tuesday (March 25) preventing the officials from taking Yunseo Chung into custody. “Nothing in the record has indicated in any way that she is a danger,” Buchwald said from the bench. Chung is the latest student activist who participated in pro-Palestinian protests targeted by the administration after the high-profile arrest of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Kahlil.A Department of Homeland Security official alleged that Chung “engaged in concerning conduct,” citing Chung’s arrest after a sit-in protest (which they claim was “pro-Hamas”) at a library at Barnard College, a sister school to Columbia. The 21-year-old received a ticket for “obstruction of governmental administration,” according to her lawsuit filed with CUNY Law School’s CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility) clinic. But ICE officials would show up at her parents’ home on March 9, and the following day Chung’s lawyer was informed that her lawful legal permanent status (Chung came to the U.S. from South Korea at the age of 7) was being revoked. ICE agents also searched for Chung at two residences including her dormitory. 

The government, through the office of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is arguing that Chung’s presence in the country is preventing their foreign policy goal of fighting antisemitism. Judge Buchwald swatted down their reasoning, stating that they had to “provide sufficient advance notice” to Chung and her legal team. The judge also barred attempts to transfer Chung out of the Southern District of New York by ICE as they did with Kahlil by transferring him from a facility in Newark, New Jersey, to Louisiana. “No trips to Louisiana here,” she remarked.

“After the constant dread in the back of my mind over the past few weeks, this decision feels like a million pounds off of my chest. I feel like I could fly,” Chung said in a statement to the New York Times after the ruling, adding her gratitude to her lawyers, students, and professors at Columbia who “have given me strength at every turn.” One of her lawyers, CUNY Law Professor Ramzi Kassem, confirmed that Chung is still completing coursework to finish her junior year.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Kaitlyn Morris / Getty

Meek Mill has denied recent claims by Los Angeles gang member Luce Cannon, who alleged that he once kidnapped the rapper and held him for ransom.

Luce Cannon claimed that he and a group of about 50 gang members caught Meek off guard at a club, forcing him to call Rick Ross, who allegedly paid $50,000 for his release. However, Meek quickly took to social media to dismiss the story as entirely false. Responding on X (formerly Twitter), the Philadelphia rapper wrote, “This guy must be using a story to confuse his indictment because I never seen him B4.” Meek made it clear that he has never encountered Luce Cannon and would have handled the situation differently if he had. He went on to say, “I woulda put him to ‘gods test’ on the spot! I never even met buddy but I don’t ‘negotiate’ with fake thugs.”

He also questioned which of his chains were supposedly taken, boasting that all his jewelry is high-end and worth significant amounts. Meek Mill has often been the subject of rumors and controversy, but he consistently responds to false claims. His quick denial suggests he sees this as just another attempt to gain attention at his expense. While Luce Cannon’s claims may have stirred up some discussion online, Meek’s response shut down any speculation, making it clear he believes the story is completely fabricated.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Gladys Vega / Getty

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Let’s Get Free, the highly celebrated debut album of Hip-Hop duo dead prez. Consisting of Stic (Khnum Ibomu) and M-1 (Mutulu Olugbala), dead prez burst onto the scene with politically conscious music that thoroughly engaged Hip-Hop fans in a parallei to the rap artists whose focus on luxury and materialism contributed to the rise of “the Bling Era.”

The album, fueled by the electric single “Hip-Hop,” would touch upon multiple issues affecting Black and Brown communities globally, with lyrics that still carry resonance and relevancy years later.

On Friday (March 28), dead prez will be the focal point of a special edition of BRIC Studios’ Stoop Share series at their venue in Brooklyn, New York. “Music, Message and Movement: Liner Notes for Liberation” is the theme of the evening co-produced by the group along with Jill Newman Productions, which will begin with a community conversation with dead prez on the legacy of Let’s Get Free and their perspective on revolutionary message music, followed by a special ticketed concert performance. Ahead of the highly anticipated evening, HipHopWired had a chance to talk about the impact of their debut album with dead prez as well as their views on the pressing need for art that will inspire the people in these times. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

HipHopWired: The impact of Let’s Get Free, it’s undeniable, and everything within it still rings true, 25 years later. With this anniversary, how have fans and others who’ve listened to the album and your music entirely shared how it’s impacted their lives?

M-1: Man, I gotta say…one great thing that that I hear with this piece of art that myself and Stic along with the help of a community of people from Tallahassee to Brooklyn, elders and ancestors. One great thing that I hear people say was that it changed the way that they view their health. I mean, amongst a lot of things that people can attach themselves to, probably one of the most is that we’ve been able to raise the general conversation around staying on this earth a little longer. So I gotta say, I’m pretty proud of just hearing that from time to time.

“It wasn’t for no other reason that we did our record than to have an impact, to have somebody say this matters, and this has helped in some kind of meaningful, actionable way.”—stic

Stic: Yeah, man, you know the term impact is something that I’ve been really enamored with. I was building with my girl the other day about her mom. She does a lot of work in Kenya around advocating for blind youth and education, right? But the thing I want to point out about impact is sometimes, we in society, we do things for the recognition of things. We do things for glory of things, the fame, the “I did this first,” “We did it better”—you see that sentiment. But when your focus is impact, you’re centered on things that might not necessarily get recognized in a public way. You might not get no Grammy. You might not get no whatever, nobody knows your name and all your gossip. But if you focus on impact, it’s those little moments that matter the most to somebody that’s actually doing the work for that purpose. 

Like the old saying, where they say, “Give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for his life.” That right? There is impact, right? The difference is, you’re actually trying to have something that has a lasting effect, so, bigger than dead prez. I just want to say that even it being a conversation around impact, means that we hit our target. Because it wasn’t for no other reason that we did our record than to have an impact, to have somebody say this matters, and this has helped in some kind of meaningful, actionable way like [M-1] said. Or if it was just a person’s perspective on a struggle that if they found more meaning in it, or if it was another artist that said, “Yo, I could speak to certain issues too. I ain’t gotta just be shucking and jiving out here.” You know what I mean? And in whatever ways that music like ours can really impact, I don’t mean like getting a Grammy for it, but in the everyday person’s life..to us, that is success.

HHW: Seeing the events of the last year unfolding within Hip-Hop culture, with some of the public having more of an appetite for what’s substantial—how optimistic are you that such a shift like that can spur more artists and more demand from the public to engage with art that matters to them like that within Hip-Hop?

Stic: All our chips are in that basket. We’re invested in that being the case, not waiting on it or hoping, but actually putting in the work to be the change we want to see. I mean, it’s more potential than ever. The playing field has been leveled in terms of creative ability to speak direct to each other, right? So I think on that note, the weapons, so to speak, are in our hands now, the people got the weapons. Now it’s about learning how to use the weapon for our best interest. Because Hip-Hop is everywhere. You can’t look at your shadow without seeing somebody’s album, you know what I’m saying? [laughs]

But it’s like…when will we use the technology and the craftsmanship to speak to issues in a way, again, that’s impactful, but also is forward. Not just nostalgic or trying to do what we used to do and say what we used to say for nostalgia’s sake, but continually making it relevant in a contemporary way to push culture forward.  Ultimately, we just want to be free and well and and safe and secure in our lives. That’s what people want all around the planet and the small role that art can play in that is huge because it’s from where our inspiration comes and goes, You know what? It’s not all about the artists. Like Public Enemy said, “It takes a nation of millions,”  but the artists play a key role, because we articulate what that future could look like.

M-1: I want to add on to what Stic said, and talk about the beckoning of what it means to have an art that is full of change…like they say “repression breeds resistance.”. And you know that seemed like it would be the case, especially in the political climate of today. Where it’s not even right-leaning, extremism kind of runs government, especially from a Republican standpoint in control of the House and Congress. The theory of the minded people who would be leadership in this country, that’s as repressive as it gets. I think the blowback, I’m ready for it. I’m looking forward to it, because it was the kind of thing that like Stic said, this is the basket that we’ve definitely put our eggs in and the way we want our cards to be played. 

However, I gotta say, when it comes down to message music or revolutionary music even with certain genres, you’ll find people who say, “Oh, reggae music, these artists need to be supported more. You know they don’t get what they deserve.” Or you even might hear that about Afrobeat. The thing is that I don’t hear it as much about, what I’m urging people to support is message music. It’s in that where you’re going to find truth being told, what’s not usually told, and the sacrifice being made of artists who might not be able to see some of the same stages. 

Because we do take a stance against Israel bombing Palestine and killing 400 babies a night. You know what I’m saying? I’m kind of against that, and that might not get me on the same stage. And so, there is a special support that’s needed and necessary, and it’s time for that. It’s a crazy time to be living, knowing that as much as it’s needed, as much as you know they—the proverbial they—are doing to rip everything they can away from those legs, making sure that it doesn’t exist with any power to stand or say anything or any truths could and would be taken away or read or ingested in any way. So anyway, I just got to say on the converse of that, that’s kind of what we’re living in right now. So we need change today, at this very moment.

HHW: With the event that’s happening at BRIC Studios that you guys are putting on with Jill Newman productions being held in Brooklyn… M-1: Home! That’s the crib.

HHW: Brooklyn has changed dramatically on so many levels. With that said, can this be, or will it be something that will be a continual series in the next step of artivism?Stic: Right on! I like that term. We have a new audio book that we’re going to be releasing soon, dead prez: Music, Message, Movement: Liner Notes For Liberation. it’s a beautiful piece of collaboration work between myself and M-1 where we’re framing what art and activism is, what that looks like from our point of view, our inspirations, the history of it, the present of it, the future of it. Some of the talk that we’re going to be doing at the BRIC, we’re going to tap into that. And then we’ve also been working—for a couple years now —we’ve been working on a new dead prez album with our team, and so we’re looking to get that finalized and out in the world. Many more things, including workshops and like we’re doing in BRIC around the same “music, message, movement” theme this year for our 25th anniversary.

M-1: I gotta tell you—I can tell Stic too, because he didn’t know—so I woke up this morning to a phone call from from my brother, Fela Kuti’s son, Seun Kuti. Seun hits me this morning. He’s like, “My brother. I hear you are celebrating the greatest liberation album of Africa. Let’s Get Free. 25 years in Brooklyn.” I’m like, “Yooo Seun!” I haven’t spoken to him in a minute, we good. You know, the wives are friends. It’s good. “Where you at?”  He says, “My brother, I am in New York, and I will be there for your show.” I hope I got his accent right. [laughs]

It just made me say, “It’s going to be a good night at BRIC. It’s going to be definitely home for a lot of people who are like-minded around what Let’s Get Free has meant. Like you said, it’s gonna be precluded by a conversation that will be moderated by Umi and between us that will discuss some of the new things we have in our new book.  But I just look forward to family kind of finding each other again in Brooklyn, and again, the heart of it has changed, but we, the heartbeat is still the same. And we’re going to be there to make it do what it do. So it’s going to be a good time.